EDITORIAL — Misinformation

A low turnout in Mandaue City’s measles-rubella vaccination campaign has been blamed by the Mandaue City Council on social media posts advocating against vaccination.

“Very saddened, ni-low g’yud ang atoang vaccination rate nga ni-avail karon... That’s why we found out nga tungod g’yud diay aning social media. There are a lot of people who are posting anti-vaccination,” Councilor Raul Kevin Cabahug was quoted as saying in a story in this newspaper.

He said some social media posts had warnings against vaccination, including claims that something bad could happen to children, with some posts even suggesting that vaccination could lead to death.

He added that the low turnout was raised during the Local Health Board meeting last week, where the Department of Health and the Mandaue City Government expressed concern over the campaign’s lower vaccination rate compared with previous years.

We don’t have to say how disappointing this is. While social media does have benefits like the fast spread of information, sometimes what’s being spread and fast may always not be the truth.

Vaccines have been keeping people safe from diseases since they were first used. That’s a proven fact. We don’t know why some people insist on believing otherwise.

Yes, it’s true that vaccines don’t just appear overnight; they are the product of constant innovation as well clinical studies that do involve some degree of trial and error.

However, throughout the centuries they have been in use, vaccines have proven to be more boon than bane.

We would understand if some people really don’t get how vaccines work and are just voicing out their doubts and fears, but if there’s something else more sinister going on --like a deliberate mission to spread misinformation for whatever purpose some people want to achieve-- then the situation is even worse than we think.

But even for those not looking to spread misinformation deliberately, it helps to be circumspect about what we say or share on social media. Lives might actually depend on it.